The 1st song of the canon brings to mind the song of thanksgiving of the prophet Moses: “Let us drink to the Lord, gloriously we will be glorified,” after the Jews crossed the Red (Red) Sea. This event is the basis of the Old Testament Passover and the prototype of the New Testament.
This is how the biblical book of Exodus describes the events (the words of the biblical song itself, which has been part of worship since ancient times, are highlighted in font). Here is an excerpt from the Russian Synodal translation of the Bible. Some phrases and expressions are given in square brackets according to the Church Slavonic Bible: those that are most often used in the irmos of the canons, as well as those that differ markedly in the Church Slavonic Bible from the Russian Synodal translation (remember that the Church Slavonic Bible was translated from Greek, and the Russian Bible was translated mainly from the Hebrew text, so some expressions in them differ).
“And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the Lord drove the sea with a strong east wind all night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters parted. And the children of Israel went up into the midst of the sea on dry land: and the waters were a wall to them on the right hand and on the left. The Egyptians pursued, and all Pharaoh's horses, his chariots and his horsemen followed them into the middle of the sea.
And in the morning watch the Lord looked upon the camp of the Egyptians from a pillar of fire and cloud and threw the camp of the Egyptians into confusion; and he took away the wheels of their chariots, so that they could hardly draw them. And the Egyptians said, Let us flee from the Israelites, because the Lord will fight for them against the Egyptians.
And the Lord said to Moses, Stretch out your hand over the sea, and let the waters turn on the Egyptians, on their chariots, and on their horsemen. And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and by morning the water returned to its place; and the Egyptians ran towards [the water]. Thus the Lord drowned the Egyptians in the midst of the sea. And the water returned and covered the chariots and horsemen of all the army of Pharaoh, who went into the sea after them; not a single one of them remained. And the children of Israel walked on dry land in the midst of the sea: the waters were a wall to them on the right hand and on the left. And the Lord delivered Israel that day from the hand of the Egyptians, and the children of Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore.
And the Israelites saw the great hand that the Lord showed over the Egyptians, and the people feared the Lord and believed the Lord and Moses His servant. Then Moses and the children of Israel sang this song to the Lord and said:
I sing to the Lord, for He is highly exalted; he threw his horse and rider into the sea. [Let us drink to the Lord, for he has been gloriously glorified: he cast horse and rider into the sea.
The Lord is my strength and my glory, He was my salvation. He is my God, and I will glorify Him; God of my father, and I will exalt Him. [He will be my helper and protector for salvation: this is my God, and I will glorify Him, the God of my father, and I will exalt Him.] The Lord is a man of war, Jehovah is His name. [The Lord is the destroyer of warfare, the Lord is His name.] He cast Pharaoh's chariots and his army into the sea, and his chosen captains were drowned in the Red Sea. [The chariots of Pharaoh and his strength were thrown into the sea, the chosen horsemen of the tristats were drowned in the Black Sea.] The depths covered them: they went into the depths like stone.
Thy right hand, O Lord, is glorified in strength; Thy right hand, O Lord, has slain the enemy. By the greatness of Your glory You have overthrown those who rebelled against You. You sent Your anger, and it burned them up like stubble. At Your breath the waters parted, the moisture became like a wall, and the depths in the heart of the sea thickened.
The enemy said: I will pursue, overtake, and divide the spoils; My soul shall be satisfied with them; I will draw my sword, and my hand shall destroy them. You blew with Your spirit, and the sea covered them: they sank like lead in great waters.
Who is like You, Lord, among the gods? Who, like You, is majestic in holiness, worthy of praise, Creator of miracles? You stretched out Your right hand; the earth swallowed them up. Thou leadest by Thy mercy this people whom Thou hast redeemed; Thou accompanyest by Thy power into the habitation of Thy holiness. The nations heard and trembled: horror seized the inhabitants of the Philistines; Then the princes of Edom were troubled, trembling seized the leaders of Moab, and all the inhabitants of Canaan became sad. Let fear and terror fall upon them; from the greatness of Thy arm let them be as numb as a stone, while Thy people pass by, O Lord, while this people which Thou hast purchased pass by. Bring him in and plant him on the mountain of Your heritage, in the place that You have made Your dwelling, O Lord, in the sanctuary that Your hands have created, O Lord! The Lord will reign forever and ever. When Pharaoh's horses with his chariots and his horsemen entered the sea, the Lord turned the waters of the sea against them, and the children of Israel walked on dry ground in the middle of the sea.
And Miriam the prophetess, Aaron's sister, took a tambourine in her hand, and all the women followed her with tambourines and rejoicing. And Miriam sang before them: Sing to the Lord, for He is highly exalted; He cast horse and rider into the sea.” (Ex.14:21-15, 21)
By the kingdom of Pharaoh in the first song, the New Testament Church understands the kingdom of the devil and sin, and by Israel - the Christians whom the Lord Jesus Christ, by His resurrection, transferred from death to life, from earth to heaven. Thus, any, even the most contrite and repentant, canon, with its first irmos and first hymn, confirms us in the Easter triumph of Christ’s victory over death and the devil, reminds us that we have been delivered from the slavery of sin and redeemed by the Blood of Christ - that is, it takes us to the foundations of the spiritual life of a Christian, to the foundation on which it is built.
The 2nd song of the canon is modeled after another song of the prophet Moses (Deut. 32:1-43), which he sang at the command of God in order to expose his ungrateful people and awaken repentance in them: “See heaven, and I will say...”. This song is omitted in most canons; it is in the Great Penitential Canon of St. Andrew of Crete, which is performed during the first and fifth weeks of Great Lent. Since there is no second song in any of the canons explained in this book, we do not provide the text of the biblical song.
The 3rd hymn of the canon (which is sung after the first) was composed under the influence of the song of thanksgiving by St. Anna, the mother of the prophet Samuel: “My heart is in the Lord, my horn is exalted in my God... he is holy like the Lord, and he is righteous like our God.” Orthodox Christians glorify and thank the Lord, for we were illuminated by the light of Christ's faith, without which we were barren in good deeds, just as Saint Anna was barren.
Here is the Song of St. Anna in the Russian Synodal Translation of the Bible (also with selected fragments of the Church Slavonic text). Note its similarity to the hymn of the Most Holy Theotokos, which is the basis of the 9th song of the canon.